Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The shards of Eador’s Broken World drift in space, waiting to be conquered by a commander versed in turn-based combat, RPG levelling, questing and looting, and town management. Fortunately, despite my extreme cowardice and feeble frame, I am just such a commander, and after many hours of play, I’ve finally decided wot I think.>

Rummaging my empty head for games I was particularly excited about in 2013, I largely came up worryingly blank. I think, though, that’s got a lot to do with the fact that a lot of the most exciting upcomers are happening via Kickstarter, which means ‘twould be foolish to presume any of them will actually happen this year. Also because The Mainstream is all bound up in those new XStation things due out in the back end of the year, and of what we do get from that on PC, we probably won’t be shown much of it until Microsoft starts talking about its next big, ugly, advert-spewing box. One thing my brain did burp up without much prompting, however, was Space Hulk. I want that on my PC and I want it now. (I also want it on my tablet thing, but that’s primarily for when I’m not, erm, sitting on a chair). I haven’t seen it myself yet, but I am so far convinced by dev Full Control’s enthusiasm for it. In the following video Q&A, there’s a bunch more of that, plus some very pleasing hints about what they’ve got planned post-release. Maudlin, semi-traitorous hands in the air, fellow Dark Angels fans! (more…)

Maybe there’s more to Half Life 1 mod Cry of Fear than screaming, gibbering faces and jump scares – the trailers have shooting, conversations and chainsaws – but my nerves, frayed rather than reinforced by years of vacationing in Silent Hill, failed to survive the opening scenes when I played last night. There’s something about the look and feel of the dated engine that unnerves me far more than something draped in bells and whistles ever would, although I’ve just conjured the image of a jester at a rave and that’s as petrifying as it is ridiculous. The Half Life engine has taken on the quality of a museum or funhouse packed with animatronics, and it’s perhaps that aspect that is most troubling. Well, that and the jump scares. Here’s how I got on.>

With Eve‘s consolebox tie-in Dust 514 appearing soon – and persistently defying sense with its failure to appear on PC (I give it six months before a PC announcement) – as well as the tenth anniversary of the game looming, CCP have started ramping up Eve things. One such promotional moment is a new video (below) which charts the origin on the Eve universe, as well as its future. It’s fascinating to see the game poised to expand into other dimensions of play, and it certainly has covered some distance in that decade.

Update: Well, that was a disaster. It turns out the silly game only lets you start a guild if all members of your current party are over level 15, or bought a Founders pack, or transferred Zen into the game. So it didn’t happen tonight. However, if those who tick any of those boxes want to email me either via above, or in the game (jennifer@bothererer), we can try to organise something soon.

Sorry I wasn’t able to respond to everyone’s questions in game – that tiny little chat box and the sheer volume made it impossible.

Cryptic’s Neverwinter has just gone live into open beta, not half an hour ago. Which means that now all and sundry can return to the Sword Coast to swash, thieve, bludgeon or feyly dance through it’s grrrrr-based adventures. And so it is that it only seems appropriate for there to be an RPS guild within. If you’re interested in joining, we’ll need some help getting it going – details below.

Do you remember that there were decades previously to this one? Far Cry 3 seems to think it does, with the appearance of an expandalone spoof of the 1980s, Blood Dragon. How does this mini-adventure hold up? Here’s wot I think:>

There will be a new GTA game soon. Maybe it’ll be on PC. It has three characters, all of which are violent, sweary men. It has some improvements to the graphics. It’s spent a lot on music and voice-acting. It has the same sort of gags as the last dozen GTA games/expansions, but with different words>. It really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really wants to be a movie.

Here are three new trailers, cunningly combined into one, and focusing exclusively on the story rather than on what you get to do. With crushing, miserable inevitability, there is a strip club scene, because there is always a strip club scene. IGN or someone will have a shot-by-shot analysis any second now, but you can watch the plain old videos below if you really want to. (more…)

Yeah, Notch’s game got a mention on its own, because a big name is a good way to encourage those who otherwise wouldn’t be interested to take a look at the many splendid things created as part of the twenty-sixth Ludum Dare global game jam. It is very important to reiterate, in this case via the medium of a post (and in addition to the one below singling out The Unseen), that you will be generously rewarded for looking at LD anyway, regardless of whether or not anyone you’ve heard of is involved. Ludum Dare – and many other speed-development events across our blue’n'green marble – is the bleeding edge of game-making, where ideas and pure talent hold far more sway than fancy graphics and big-budget explosions. It is ur-game and omni-game, a wild, wonderful badlands for all the potential that software holds. (more…)

Given that Ludum Dare 26 spawned several trillion games, we’ll probably be talking about it for the next 30,000 or so years. I will, however, almost certainly do a round-up sooner or later, seeing as the theme – minimalism – has led to a teetering tapas tower of bite-sized, sometimes seconds-long experiences. Don’t get me wrong, though: I have come across a few slightly meatier efforts. Of those, The Unseen stands out as well worth a mention, if only because I’d love to see it take on a life beyond LD26. Doubtless, it’s got some oily, hair-strewn warts on its style-savvy skin, but the core idea is brilliant on a number of levels. See, you’re dead. And how’d you die? Well, while searching for your body, you’re almost certainly going to find out. Agonizing step by agonizing step.

The Kickstarter to create a new Realm Vs Realm MMO successor to Dark Age Of Camelot has just two days left on the clock. They need three hundred thousand dollars at the time of writing. A tense time, then, for its lead Mark Jacobs. I spoke to the man behind Dark Age Of Camelot and Warhammer Online, and asked him about the story behind Camelot Unchained.> (more…)